Brown could walk away tomorrow

June 20, 2009 12:00 am

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By , LONDON, Jun 20 – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown admitted he had been "hurt" by criticism aimed at him and said he could easily "walk away from all of this tomorrow", in an interview published Saturday.

Brown told The Guardian newspaper that he would not be worried if he never saw his Downing Street office again and accepted he was not the communicator he would like to be.

Brown’s authority has been shaken by the resignation of several ministers — some accompanied with sharp personal attacks — the lawmakers’ expenses scandal and a heavy drubbing for his governing Labour Party in recent European Parliament and English local elections.

Though Labour is well behind in the opinion polls with a general election due inside 12 months, Brown insisted he could lead Labour to victory.

"To be honest, you could walk away from all of this tomorrow," Brown said.

"I’m not interested in what accompanies being in power. It wouldn’t worry me if I never returned to any of those places — Downing Street, Chequers. That would not worry me at all. And it would probably be good for my children."

He added: "Look, find weaknesses in me, criticise me for my weaknesses — I’m not as great a presenter of information or communicator as I would like to be.

"It’s easy to find an individual to blame, and make that person the source of the trouble, but we’ve been hit by a world economic hurricane, by an expenses crisis unparalleled in the history of Westminster, and we’ve been in government for 12 years.

"Of course, unity in the party is an important element to this. People want to see parties united, not divided. All these elements are not present at the moment.

"However much you feel responsible, and however much your integrity is… and you feel hurt by what people are saying, you’ve got to deal with it."